NFL Announces Four International Pathway Program Players Allocated To AFC South

The NFL welcomes four new players who are joining the AFC South next season via the International Pathway Program.

From a search and intense try-out spanning the entire globe, welcome to this year’s International Player Pathway graduates! pic.twitter.com/Psce8eZC8m

— NFL (@NFL) May 3, 2022

The full list of players who are being allocated to the league via the program is as follows:

1. Winnipeg Blue Bombers DB Ayo Oyelola (United Kingdom) (Jaguars)
2. Berlin Thunder DL Adedayo Odeleye (Nigeria) (Texans)
3. Stuttgart Surge DB Marcel Dabo (Germany) (Colts)
4. Eastern Michigan TE Thomas Odukoya (Netherlands) (Lions)

The Colts actually hosted Dabo, who played in the European League of Football, for a top 30 draft visit.

He’s an intriguing athlete, as at 6-1 and 210 pounds he ran a 4.42 40-yard dash, had a 40.5 inch vertical, and an 11-3 broad jump. 

The International Player Pathway program was instituted by the NFL in 2017 as a way to grow the game of football. Each year one of the NFL’s eight divisions will be randomly chosen to receive one international player each.

Those players don’t count against the 90-man roster limit and can be carried as an eleventh practice squad member if they’re not signed to a contract. 

Dabo, 21, was the defensive rookie of the year for the European League of Football in 2021, recording 22 tackles and an interception for the Stuttgart Surge.